armt350z

iTrader: (6)

This year saw an increase of focus for my car for more track duty than daily driver. For a near full build of the car you can see it here : https://my350z.com/forum/engine-swap...-ls-build.html

If you don't feel like going through all of that then the spec list is here:

08 Nismo Z

Motor:
LS3 EROD crate motor
CTS FEAD accesories
Fueled racing mount kit
JBA High flow cats
K&N Short ram air intake with JWT Popcharger filter
Motordyne Y Pipe
AAM 3" single exhaust
Fuellab fuel filter and FPR with a 034 Motorsports surge tank
Earl's 13 Row wide oil cooler
CSF Dual pass radiator
Tremec T-56 Magnum transmission
Nismo GT Pro 1.5 Diff, stacked for 80% lock with motul fluid

Chassis:
KW Clubsport kit
Kinetix Front UCA
SPC Rear toe and camber arms/bolts
Hotchkis F+R Sway bars
Whiteline poly bushings throughout
Stoptech ST60 Front BBK
Carbotech XP12 pads Front
Factory Brembo rears with Ferodo DS2500 Pads
Braided brake lines
Motul RBF660

Alignment is
Front :
-3.2 deg Camber, 1/8th Inch toe out(Measured with longacre toe plates)
Rear:
-2 deg with 0 toe

I'm currently on a staggered setup with Toyo R888 GG tires 275F/295R

This was the cars first rear outing since the build.


I'll post in a bit about the comments for what the car was like, what adjustments I made etc.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

Before that track day I had the car set to the recommended settings and ride height from KW then corner balanced. The recommended settings had the rear sitting very high which looked odd. It turns out it was odd, the high roll center in the back made it 'feel' very unstable, I likely lost more time than anything else due to that.

Also to note, I started the day with 29 psi cold which turned out to be way too much. After the first session I was at over 37 psi in the rear and 36 in the front. I did not have the tools to adjust the ride height nor did I have my trackside alignment kit with me so I was limited to adjusting just the tire pressures. It turns out 26 cold is the happy spot which put me at 34 hot. The car settled with those pressures but the waggling aft end stuck around.

I was only able to get in on the 2 sessions which was fine since I had reached the point of not being able to make the adjustments I wanted anyways. The positive note though was that the failures from last year which was too soft of a suspension, brake failure due to cooking thew fluid and the overheating issue have all been resolved. That is a huge plus for me.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

The second video just finished uploading so here is another post. Fast forward a week and I found myself at the Nurburgring GP course. During the week I had lowered the rear end a bit and re aligned it, refreshed the fluids and rewelded the passenger seat mounts since with the planted mounts would put a average sized passenger into the headliner. I had 3 15 minute sessions to drive so I tried to put the car once more through the wringer.


The car felt much better this go around. It was much closer to the confidence inspiring feel that I know it can give me. The back end I think still needs to come down a bit but its a lot closer to where I will be happy with it. With everything else largely set. The car exhibited slight understeer which I'm okay with for the moment since I know it will be corrected with a square tire setup. Plus on the Nordschleife, I would much rather have a predictable slight understeer than anything else since there is zero runoff and any off course will be damaging.

Between the sessions I increased the compression and rebound a tick each and it netted better times and more importantly a better feel. The Toyo's are showing their faults however and were outperformed by a good friends track M3 running on a 265 square setup on michelin sport cups. I may have to change tire brands next time I need a set.

Classy

iTrader: (7)

Do you think the single 3 inch exhaust is choking the motor?

I see you are really feeling out the car and improving on the weak areas. I suppose the new brakes are doing you well? I love your build!

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

I don't actually. There was a increase in measured performance from last years exhaust setup which was the true dual HKS knockoff to the AAM 3 inch. But when I swapped a 4 inch oval pipe exhaust on, there was no noticeable increase in performance measured from the accelerometers in the vbox. The only thing that increase with the 4 4inch exhaust was how loud it was, which is bad since it would prevent me from being able to do noise restricted events(pretty much all of them).

The new brakes are working like a charm.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

The day after the GP track I decided to make the best of the visit of the 'ring and take advantage of the tourist track time. Overall I logged 20 laps throughout the weekend and oddly enough out of the 20 laps the car performed well except for on the 20th lap I suffered minor mechanical issues. I wasn't able to adjust the ride height between the gp track time and here so I went into it knowing that there was probably more to be gained.

Here is the first lap from saturday. I went out with a goal of just being under 9 with the car so to see 8:49 was even better.


Improvements were made throughout the weekend but i am beginning to think that I might need more spring in the back right now, the car squats very hard in the rear under both acceleration and turns.





Just for giggles here is the lap where the O2 sensor came out, it happens at just about the 5 minute mark. The exhaust blowing out of the bung was directly on my clutch line and boiled the fluid leading to clutch failure. Luckily I was able to get it limped off the track.


I do have a question for you track guys, What kind of catch tank are you using to catch the differential oil venting? Whenever I service it to spec it burps about 100 to 150 ml out and it obviously gets oil everywhere.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Nice build , wish I could see static pics of how your suspension was sitting.

Some people just put a small catch can , others do a double loop of hose. I need to do something to mine soon.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

Here you go, this is the car as it stands now.


and

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Tire heights, ride height etc etc do odd things to this chassis. Front tire taller than the rear is fun to try set up for. Even with a square setup the rear gets unstable at neutral throttle.

IMO, add rear toe, you need a hair for stability , and swap to a 305/35-18 rear when you wear out your current tires

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

Going to 305 is going to be difficult for me, at least using an 18 inch rim. The pickings are slim in Europe. I can grab 295/30/18's all day long but finding a 305 on an 18 inch size seems to be a bridge too far, also slicks are not an option yet.

I could get a set of R888's in that size but I think I would be better served with a 295 width Michelin sport cup 2 or Ventus Z221 than a 305 R888.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

I'm throwing around the idea of bumping up to a 19 inch rear wheel. It will give me access to 305 width rear tires that would have the added benefit ofvery nearly matching the stock tire diameter(not a huge deal admittedly). I could then take my existing rear wheels to the front of the car and run a 285 or 295 front tire. I'm likely going to have to run a 10mm spacer for that unfortunately until I can grab a set of lower offset wheels.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Just order a toyo R888 in 305/35-18 , much easier.

What width wheels are on there now, front and rear.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

18x9.5 f 18x10.5 R et +27

It might be easier true. But with the R888 being as old as it is, its getting outperformed by some of the newer offerings and I can get a michelin sport cup 2 for the same prices as a R888.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

The next track event is coming up this weekend so it was time to get back on to wrenching on the car. I serviced all of the fluids and then got around to installing the differential vent catch can.



All in all it was $10 off ebay. Hopefully I can say goodbye to gear oil venting onto the rear tires now.

While I was down there I also noticed that the whiteline differential bushing was busted.




I am actually kind of annoyed with this one. Its only been on the car for about 2000 miles and I figured it could actually deal with a little track abuse. I guess not. Unfortunately both the replacement from whiteline and the solid bushings I ordered will not arrive in time. So time to get creative. I mic'ed out the hole in the subframe and it came out to 75.8mm. The search was on. The size looked VERY familiar to me I just couldn't place it. The next day it hit me... a hockey puck! I grabbed the micrometer and a regulation puck came out to 76.1mm!



I drilled out the hole and put it in. Like a glove.


I'll test drive it tomorrow and see how it fairs but to be honest, it just needs to last me until after Saturday. If it turns out this is a viable option then I would say screw buying a $80 bushing, go grab a $2 hockey puck.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

I doubt that puck will last, but worth a try.

Catch can look good, but I feel running it high will be best. I'm planning to just run my vent tube along the bottom of the trunk, then up a foot behind the bumper.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

I doubt it will either, but its worth a shot. Hockey pucks are at least vulcanized, so there is a small chance. I've used them as motor mounts before and they held up fine. The hose idea is not bad. and would probably weigh less.

Classy

iTrader: (7)

I also have seen hockey pucks used with great success as engine mounts. Pretty smart idea about the hockey puck. The difference is on an engine mount the puck has the weight on the flat area, and the bushing would have it on the edge, I see it tearing, but if it lasts an event, it paid for itself and more.

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

I drove the car to work which is about a 30 minute drive each way on some fairly twisty roads today just to see how it would hold. No tears yet so I'm going to give it a go on track.

KingBaby

iTrader: (3)

interesting!

armt350z

iTrader: (6)

o that track event at lausitzring was largely a success for me, with a caveat. Prior to the event the organizer had asked me if I wanted to sign up for the time attack series since it was happening this last weekend at the same track. I declined since I felt the car was not going to be competitive seeing as I had thought I still had a ways to go in the suspension setup, plus I had not real aero or made any effort to lighten the car.

Well, come to find out that was not the case. Last week I threw the car back on the scales and found out that my rear right of the car was way out since the last corner balance. I rectified that and made some adjustments to the rebound and compression. This 95% solved all of the handling quirkiness that had been plagueing the car. It felt great, it released predictably and other than understeer, made me very happy.

So according to the lap timer in the car I logged a best time of 1:41.77 which would have been enough to place me second. The quickest car in the class ran a ~1:39.5. For reference the quickest car of the weekend was a factory team that brought out a Nissan GTR GT3 car which ran around a 1:25.5 time. Talk about bringing a tactical nuke to a knife fight.

now... the hockey puck.. it lasted the entire weekend! Initially it looked like it was starting to tear around where the nut was but this was solved by putting on a larger diameter washer.